As the calendar turned its last chapter, many of us evaluated the year that was and anticipated the year to come. Let me suggest one goal for 2022 that seems counterintuitive in a culture that rewards the opposite: loving your political enemies.
Count me in. I’m one of the nearly 2 million Americans who tested positive for COVID over the holidays even though I had both vaccine shots and the booster. Fortunately, I had no symptoms. Like so many others, I was completely shocked to read my test result and felt kind of ashamed. (I swear I’d been vigilant and I had no idea how I’d become infected!) When the shocking news arrived I’d been on my way to finish my gift shopping before getting on a plane the next day to see family.
The new year is a time for both reflection and reinvention. So it’s only fitting that this New Year’s the omicron variant is forcing us to reflect on a year in which we’ve recorded more COVID-19 deaths than in 2020, despite more tools than ever to fight the virus.
You may be a Democrat, but you probably don’t see yourself as part of a “woke mob.” Even if you feel woke, as in aware of injustices in our society, you probably don’t agree with Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., that “woke politics” is genderless, sexless and Godless.
Now that the House has voted to hold former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in contempt for refusing to appear before the January 6 Select Committee, Washington insiders are gripped in a typical, inside-the-Beltway dilemma: Whether or not the Justice Department should file criminal charges against him. After all, unlike Steve Bannon, Meadows was a member of the Executive branch and can therefore claim “executive privilege.”
It’s going to be a long month. The holidays are over, it’s cold outside and I’m already bored with cleaning out my closet.
Back in July, while performing at the Hollywood Bowl, the Grammy-winning artist Ledisi shared a story about the day in 2003 when Nina Simone saved her life. Ledisi was in her late 20s, depressed, newly divorced and struggling with money problems.
As a matter of fundamental fairness, people who have been victimized and abused deserve to have their day in civil court. But because of the doctrine of qualified immunity, government workers, including law enforcement, are largely shielded from civil liability.
After this year’s natural disasters, I worry more about climate emergency preparedness at my sister’s nursing home than COVID-19. My fears about nursing home virus outbreaks have receded, given widespread resident vaccination and mandates for health care workers.
The recently deceased Rev. Desmond Tutu was a great statesman and a great fighter for social justice. I never had the honor to meet him, but from the work I did in 1987-1994 as an unpaid consultant to a number of the groups working to end apartheid in South Africa and replace it with a multiracial democracy, I heard many inspiring stories about him.